He had heard all the hype surrounding Monday's solar eclipse taking place throughout the United States, but especially in Clarksville, the home of Austin Peay State University and a city located directly in the path of totality.

Healy, the second-year coach of Austin Peay's football team, watched the school transform the football field his team typically occupies on weekday afternoons into a hotbed for the astronomical spectacle taking place. But truthfully, Healy couldn't care less.

Well, at first.

"I'm not gonna lie, I was a little bit of a hater," Healy admitted, cracking a smile after Tuesday's practice. "But then I got a chance to see (the total eclipse) yesterday and it was absolutely unbelievable."

Clarksville was a popular destination city for eclipse-watchers. People came from within parts of Tennessee, and states like New Jersey, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Kentucky and more. Astrophysicists from NASA traveled to Clarksville and set up shop on Austin Peay's campus, bringing telescopes and tools to study the sky and the environment during the event.

But you'll have to excuse Healy if he wasn't as eager to watch the eclipse as the NASA staff. He's on a mission to end a 27-game losing streak that started before he took over, and that work starts on the practice field.

With Fortera Stadium filled with students, faculty and people from across the country, Healy had to adjust his coaching schedule. No practice meant one less day for his team to prepare for its opener against Cincinnati Aug. 31. A few team meetings were moved around. Healy and his staff weren't sure where they were going to work for the day.

Healy drove from Austin Peay's campus back to his home to watch the eclipse with his wife, Emily, and their infant son, Eli. When it came time for the eclipse, he stood outside his house and put on his glasses, perhaps still a bit skeptical of it all.

But ultimately, he left amazed by what he saw.

"What a weird, quiet, eerie feeling," Healy said, recalling the moments leading up to the eclipse. "And then all of a sudden, it was just an unbelievable spectacle. It was really, really cool."

About 50 of Healy's football players showed up to the stadium to watch the eclipse together. They arrived around 12:45 p.m. in anticipation of the eclipse's two-minute duration, beginning at 1:25 p.m. and ending at 1:27 p.m.

Some players, like their coach, came into the day not expecting to see much. Some even forgot to wear protective glasses. But Jule Pace, a senior defensive end and Clarksville native, was not one of them.

"It was more than the hype," said Pace, who called the total eclipse one of the top five coolest moments of his lifetime. "There were a lot of people who thought it wasn't going to be as spectacular as it was, but it was definitely something to see."

As the team trains hard to snap the losing streaking hanging over the program, days like Monday — coming together for something bigger — offer a chance to reset, reload and get away from it all.

Even for an event that lasts two minutes.

"You can look at all the pictures you want to, but until you see it in person, you see that it's a powerful thing to see," Healy said. "I'm definitely a believer now."